Come What May
by Speklez
Summary: Their seventeen year betrothal finally comes to end, but when Demetri arrives to pick up his bride for breakfast the morning of their wedding, what he finds is the last thing he expects. Rated for language, future content, and possible triggers.
1. Chapter 1

"Jesus!"

The Crowned Prince had no idea what to expect when he turned down the drive of the Swan Estate, but slamming on the breaks and cutting the wheel to avoid hitting a guard that came out of nowhere wasn't on the list. He wasn't going that fast, but it was November, ice was a thing, and it seemed as though no one had recently tended the drive after the storm the night before. It was still early enough in the day to not be totally surprised by it, but it was certainly an annoyance.

Demetri's car came to sliding stop sideways six inches from the shellshocked Royal Guard that darted out in front of him. A glare on his face, he threw his car in park, opening the door without cutting the engine before getting out. Slamming the door behind him, he looked at the asshole with a death wish. It was as he was opening his mouth to question what the fuck he was doing, when from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a swarm of others that wore the uniform all over the property, stilling his notoriously sharp tongue.

Eyes crinkling in the corners, they slowly slid along the front yard, counting heads. There was easily five times as many bodies as there should have been for something as simple as securing the place before his arrival, and the way the guards were acting set a rock in his stomach.

"This... doesn't look good."

Moving around his car, leaving it where it was, and still running, he walked through four inches of snow, his head turning back and forth, watching as the guards took up defensive protocol, stationing themselves only so far apart. The more he watched the happenings, the less he liked what he was seeing, and by the time he reached the house itself, his teeth were on edge.

Shoving a guard out of his way that attempted to deny him entry into a house that was clearly unsafe and not yet secure, Demetri paused three steps past the broken door. Eyes widening and jaw going lax at the destruction that was everywhere he looked, there was a choked noise in the back of his throat. Furniture wasn't just knocked over, some of it broken into pieces. There was broken glass all over the fucking place, Demetri even needing to catch himself once when he slipped on some that was slick with blood as he followed the sounds of frantic voices to a room he couldn't tell the use of.

"What... the fuck?"

Every set of eyes on the room turned to the prince, who stood frozen in the entry as his eyes moved about the room, drinking in the destruction before turning those blue orbs to the young lady that was letting out low whines and whimpers as she was being checked over by one of Demetri's guards that had been sent to the estate ahead of him.

Alec, who had been reassigned from Demetri to the impending princess, shook his head as he held a damp towel to his new charge's forehead with one hand while the other held her head still by the base of her skull. "We don't know yet, but our assumption is someone found out while others seem to think it was a robbery gone wrong. Felix and I got here about fifteen minutes ago, but when we knocked, there wasn't an answer. Seeing as how she knew to expect someone to collect her this morning, and didn't come come to the door, Felix... uh... gained entry to the house, and..." Rubbing his thumb against the side of Isabella's neck when she whined again, he shook his head and looked at his boss. "Well, you saw what we did. Because we knew you were on your way and we don't know what happened, we called for reinforcements."

Clicking his tongue, Demetri glanced back over his shoulder, looking out the front window at the literal army that showed up, then tsked. "I see that." Shaking his own head, and though he moved closer, he stayed out of the way as he watched the woman he had spent the last seventeen years betrothed to, and was set to marry in a mere handful of hours, be tended to by his personal bodyguard and best friend. Standing behind his shoulder, he winced in sympathy as she cried out when he pressed against her belly. "Felix?"

Glancing back, Felix clicked his tongue as he turned back. "The ambulance is on its way, and it's about as bad as it looks, Man. She's got a broken arm and at least three busted ribs. The belly is soft, which suggests no internal bleeding or damage to the organs but it's tender, which suggests internal bruising which pain wise isn't any better. Under that towel is a gash that's deep enough to see her skull and she has a serious fucking concussion." Then, there was snort that held no amusement. "If she knows her own damn name right now it would be a miracle."

Once again looking away, taking in what he could see of the chaos that surrounded them, Demetri hummed. From where he was standing, the fact she was alive at all seemed to be just this side of a fucking miracle. Looking back down, his lips pressed together. This was the exact reason no one knew who the hell the girl was; why she herself didn't even know. He was positive she knew the details, just not the person. Only three people knew she had spent her life engaged to the Crowned Prince, and that was him, though he had only ever met her face to face once when he was five, his father, and her father. It was for literally no reason other than a safety measure to prevent this kind of shit from happening.

Sighing quietly through his nose, Demetri moved to his betrothed side and crouched down, draping his arms over his thighs, his hands hanging down between his legs. Starting from her hair and sliding his eyes along her form, he cataloged what he could see of her injuries. There was where Felix said she had a gash on her forehead, though he hadn't seen it with his own eyes yet. She had a black eye, a busted lip, and he could see a surfacing bruise on her cheek, though it wasn't dark enough yet to know if it was from an open hand or a fist. Her skin was littered in cuts, likely from the broken glass that was all over the damn place. What held his attention longer than any of those, however, was the marking he could see around her neck. It had always been his understanding that trying strangle someone was considered a very personal attack, and something that was rarely done by a complete stranger.

The scene clearly suggested something to the effect of a break in, but Demetri was beginning to have his doubts in the obvious, and while slightly more inclined to agree with Alec than he was in the moments prior, it still didn't feel right. While his and Felix's assumption she had been discovered wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility, it was extraordinarily unlikely. There just weren't enough people that knew who his betrothal was to for it to have gotten out.

Trying to take a step back and look at the situation from a different angle was proving more difficult that he thought it should have been. He had only met the woman once, and he doubted she even remembered it being scarcely three at the time. Hell, he could barely remember it himself it had been so long, and due to how long ago it was, he couldn't even be certain the flashes of the memory he had were completely accurate.

The one part of it he knew actually happened was when he made the childish mistake of telling his father he was going to marry her one day, because that's the whole reason they were betrothed in the first damn place. He certainly didn't have any malicious intentions because he didn't understand what that truly meant when he said it. He was a child, it was an innocent statement, and only his father would put that much stock in what a five year old said. Truth be told, he couldn't even remember what happened to make him declare such a thing, but two months after it was said, their future was set in stone.

It shouldn't have really affected their lives at all, at least not until recently. There were no hard and fast rules as far as what he was allowed to do and what he wasn't when it came to having other relationships prior to the wedding, nor were there any for her. Both of them were more or less allowed to live whatever life they chose to, doing what they wanted, and with who. There were certainly things that were frowned upon, like either of them having an actual significant other that could jeopardize their future marriage, which was why both of them had to end whatever it was they had going on with anyone else six months ago. At that point, there was a pledge of faithfulness to the other.

The prince didn't know about her, and though he certainly couldn't claim to be a virgin any longer, he at no point allowed himself to get overly attached to anyone. His longest stent with the same girl lasted about eight months when he was seventeen. He had enjoyed her company and certainly had a fondness for her, but it was shocking how easy it was to walk away the moment she demanded he tell her why he wouldn't return her 'I love you'. She hadn't cared for his response of 'because I don't', and after a migraine inducing series of stalker like events, it ended with a restraining order and a threat of imprisonment after she had screamed to the Heavens themselves she deserved to be Demetri's intended wife. That was just shy of four years ago, and he hadn't had long term dealings with a female since then. There was absolutely nothing that would have made it worth it.

While he couldn't speak for his intended, the betrothal never really bothered him. He understood, as far as he was concerned anyway, it was going to happen regardless because no Crowned Prince got to pick their bride, though the decision wasn't usually made with them so young. They could pick their second wife without interference should they lose their first, as what happened when his mother died, but not the woman that would one day hold the title of Queen; something the second wife would never hold, and that was something his step-mother loathed with every fiber of her being... which Demetri thought was absolutely fucking hysterical.

He didn't hate the woman, he really didn't, but there was certainly no love between them either. Honestly, he didn't really have an opinion on her one way or the other. She was his father's wife, and came into Demetri's life far too late for him to really give a damn about what she had to say. Up until this point in his life he had never been out-right disrespectful to her, his mother had raised him far better than that, but he was seventeen when she married his father, and Demetri barely listened to him at that point so he certainly wasn't going to bow down and kiss her ass.

Pulling off his gloves before reaching a hand out, he hooked two fingers in Isabella's palm, giving her something to squeeze as Felix continued his inspection to look for any other injuries. Looking back to her face when he felt her grip tighten slightly, he took in the pain of her expression, a frown coming to his lips. Dipping his head, Demetri lowered his voice as he spoke in her ear. "Share your pain, My Darling. You won't hurt me."

Her response was nearly instant, and it took quite a lot of effort on Demetri's part not to yelp at the unexpected amount of strength the girl actually had when she popped his knuckles. Swallowing the grunt, he returned to his crouched position and looked back at Felix, who had finished what he was doing. "Well?"

Shaking his head as he rubbed his palms together, Felix sighed hard. "I mean, I can't tell for sure without actually being able to see under the skin, but I don't think there's anything other than what I've already said. Hips are in their sockets, there's reflexes in the knees and ankles, and she damn near succeeded in breaking your fingers when I pressed on her toenail, so sensation is there. Other than some cuts, it seems that her upper body took the brunt of the assault." Then, he looked at his friend. "All of that said, I don't think this wedding is happening today, Demetri."

Closing his eyes and scratched between them, his voice was colored in every ounce of annoyance he felt over the words that came out of his mouth. "You know as well as I do postponement is not an option. If it were..." opening his eyes and cutting them to Felix, "...I believe this would certainly be grounds for it."

There was a very distasteful gleam in Felix's eyes when he grunted. "Your father can't give an inch, can he?"

The look on Demetri's face mirrored the one on Felix's. "And he never could, the stubborn old bastard."

It was then Alec chimed in, lifting the towel to fold it over to cleaner part, giving Demetri an eye full of the torn and jagged gash that was several inches long and as deep as Felix had said, before pressing the towel back to the injury. "So what are you going to do? Someone beat the dog shit out of this girl, we have no idea who it was, or really even how to go about finding that out. Is it really a good idea to go through with this until we know who's responsible?"

Rubbing his thumb across the back of Isabella's fingers as she once again tightened her grip on his, he turned to look at Alec. "To your questions, I have no idea and there is no choice, respectively. However, to the statements, I do have an idea who's responsible for this." Looking back to Felix, "where is her father?"

Blinking at the somewhat simple, yet completely overlooked questioning of the missing person, Felix shook his head. "I don't know. No one's told me anything about finding anyone else in the house, and there is no reason it shouldn't have been fully cleared by now; not with how many bodies as are here."

Eyes narrowing, Demetri hummed in the back of his throat. "Is that so?" Cocking his head to the side, he clicked his tongue as he returned his eyes to his intended, curiosity in his voice. "Tell me, Gentleman; it's the day of your daughter's longly anticipated wedding. Where are you?"

Felix and Alec looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the prince, Alec being the one to say it. "Someone actually made a valiant attempt to kill her, Dem. You don't really think it was _him_ , do you?"

Catching a chorus of slamming car doors, and only able to guess as to what it was, Demetri licked his lips. "I'm not willing to overlook any possibility and think he is as likely a suspect as anyone else. So, until his rotting corpse is discovered and proves otherwise, he will remain one." Hearing the sound of glass crunching beneath feet, Demetri's lip curled. "I'm curious, Father..." looking over his shoulder, locking his eyes on Aro's, he then cocked a brow. "How is it you think your wife will make this about her?"

Overly stressed out and high strung, simply due to the situation itself, Aro didn't make the attempt to humor his son. "Uncalled for, Demetrius." When he heard his son sniff at him before turning away, he rolled his eyes. Engaging someone that was already pissed off and clearly looking for a fight was literally not even on his list of things he was willing to do at the moment. Besides, uncalled for not under the current circumstance, it wasn't something he could claim to have come out of left field, because it would not be the first time his wife had attempted to make herself far more important than his son considered her to be when it came to his impending wedding.

The fact the bride was barely conscious and clearly in no shape to attend the ceremony that was set to start in just over three hours certainly did not bode well for any upcoming interactions between Demetri and his step-mother.

On the drive to the estate, Aro had been apprised of the situation involving his future daughter in-law, however words rarely did visuals justice, so he was not fully prepared for what he walked into when he arrived. He was told the house was a wreck and Isabella had been injured, but not once during that particular conversation had anyone told him she was barely fucking alive, and something he felt to be relatively pertinent information.

However, after seeing the magnitudinal scope of the situation and the state of the young lady, he could perfectly well understand the extreme turn Demetri's mood took in comparison to the somewhat upbeat, if not something that resembled excitement, when he left the reception venue to go pick up his intended to take her to breakfast. While the forty five minutes they would have had together certainly wouldn't have amounted to a foundation for a lifetime, it would have derailed either of them saying 'I do' to a literal stranger depending on how they decided to use it.

Even still, he did find it heartening to see that, despite the chaos that continued to wage around him, Demetri's sole focus was on her as he handled her like if she was made of glass, when he could have just as easily stood off the to side with complete disinterest while others dealt with her instead. The fact his son clearly cared a great deal about the state of affairs did give Aro a margin of hope for the future, though he was also careful not to get too far ahead of himself in that respect as well.

Demetri, now completely ignoring his father's presence in its entirety, gently set his free hand on Isabella's head in an attempt to catch whatever attention she had to give. She did slant open her eyes, but they were glossy and unfocused, leading him to agree with Felix's assessment about her likely not even knowing her name. Hell, she was so out of it, if she knew what planet she was on he would be surprised.

When she closed her eyes again, he lightly ran his thumb across her hairline, keeping his voice low because he was positive she had never had a headache like the one she currently had. "Open your eyes, Dearest. Help is on the way, and I know it's difficult, but you must stay awake until they get here."

He heard her whimper, and saw her body shift slightly, but she did open her eyes, though she was looking somewhere over his shoulder opposed to his face. Her voice was nothing but a high pitched whine. "It hurts."

Face completely smoothing out and taking on a tender look, he let out a quiet breath. "I know, My Darling." Tightening his grip slightly on her hand, his head tilted ever so slightly. "Keep your grip on my fingers." A small smile pulled at the corners of his lips when he felt her do as told. "There's a good girl. Alec, be a gent and," flicking his eyes to the mentioned guard's, "go find out what is keeping that fucking ambulance."

Nodding, Alec waited for Felix to move from Isabella's legs to her head, taking over holding pressure against the gash on her head before standing, bowing to the king before leaving the room and pulling out his phone to get a, hopeful, ETA on when the paramedics would finally arrive.

Glancing over at Demetri's father and seeing his attention otherwise occupied by another guard, Felix, keeping his voice hopefully too low for Aro to hear him, spoke. "Do you really think her father had something to do with this and it's not to do with her relationship with you?"

Lips pressing together in a hard line as his eyes once again ignited when he looked at Felix, Demetri continued to gently stroke his Intended's forehead as he figured out exactly how to word his response. It took him a moment, but he spoke as quietly as Felix did when he answered. "We don't have one right now, and that would be the point. Unless he ran his mouth, no one else knew her connection to me. You didn't even know her name until an hour ago, and we've been friends as long as the betrothal has been in place. Nothing about this makes any sense, Felix, think about it. There are only two ways to gain entry into a house; a door or a window. It's freezing outside and it's not that cold in here, so there could not have been an open window for an extended period of time without the temperature dropping and you yourself kicked in the door. How did a burglar get in? How would they have gotten out without leaving something open, broken, or unlocked? I think, at the very least, her father certainly has some fucking questions to answer, not the least of which being, where the hell was he when this happened? Did he do it himself? That I don't know, but if he didn't, you will have a very hard time convincing me he doesn't know who did."

It was then Alec returned, the paramedics behind him, so after gently extracting his fingers from Isabella's grip, Demetri backed out of the way to let the medical personnel do their jobs. Standing between Alec and Felix, he crossed his arms as he watched as the two men quickly got her hooked up to a portable monitor, oxygen, and an IV inserted before placing her broken forearm in a cardboard transport splint and exchanging the blood soaked towel on her forehead for a better bandage, all the while trying to engage her to assess her mental capabilities.

It was as she was being moved from the floor to a backboard Demetri spoke. "Alec." Hearing the questioning 'Sire?', he clicked his tongue. "Go with her." Slanting his eyes to the guard, he was dead serious. "She doesn't leave your sight for any reason until I get there."

Nodding to the expected orders, Alec licked his lips as he pulled his gun from the holster under his jacket, popping the round from the chamber so no one had a shit-fit over semantics. "You're the boss." Putting his still loaded but secured firearm away and dropping the bullet from the chamber into Felix's hand, he followed the paramedics as they rushed his charge from the house and out into the cold.

Remaining where he was for a moment longer, his mind still running its most recent trail, Demetri hummed before moving with purpose to his father, Felix on his heel, and interrupted the conversation going on between his father and a Royal Guard. "I want this place searched again."

The guard, looking from the king to the prince, didn't bother hiding his confusion. "I assure you, Your Majesty, it's been cleared."

Leveling the man with a look, Demetri kept his arms crossed as he stared the man down. "Matteo, your comprehension skills are as astounding as always. However, I don't believe I asked if it was cleared, but if that's your claim, I have questions. My Lady's injuries are very recent, so someone was here within moments of my guards' arrival. That's fresh snow outside, so where are the tracks of someone's comings and goings? Where did they come in, but more importantly, how did they leave? This place is a mess and there is broken glass all over the fucking place. My Lady's nails are broken, so clearly she fought back as well. There is no way the one that did this didn't sustain a single injury of their own, so where is the red blood on the white snow if this house is cleared?"

Waiting a moment for any form of answer, and not even slightly surprised when there was no attempt on the guard's part to do so, Demetri's eyes narrowed. "I will not repeat myself a third time. I want this place searched again, from rafters to foundation. Tear it down to rubble if you must, I truly do not care. Someone is here, and you will find them, or you will deal with me. Considering the fact I am in an exceptionally bad mood, ask yourself how far you really want to push me right now."

Matteo looked away from the prince to his actual boss, who was looking right back at him with an expectant look, prompting him to nod to Demetri. "As His Majesty wishes."

One brow popped up and dropped back down, Demetri then turned away and began to head for the front door. He had a handful of things to take care of before he could go to the hospital, but stopped before leaving the house completely. Turning his head toward an overturned chair when something caught his eye, he hummed before going that way first. Kneeling, he lifted the chair with one hand and pulled the small gym bag out from under it with the other. Releasing the chair and letting it fall where it would, he unzipped the bag and opened it, glancing inside and nodding to himself before closing it up. It was nothing but Isabella's clothes, so standing with it in his hand to take with him, he didn't make it three steps before something else caught his attention.

Handing the bag off to Felix, he swiped his foot across the glass before once again crouching down, picking up the necklace by the charm that hung from a broken chain. Lowering the white gold chain into the palm of his other hand, he ran the pad of his thumb over the solid white gold, pink diamond studded charm that boasted two dolphins resting against his fingers. Tilting his head as he looked at the only present he had ever sent her, Demetri clicked his tongue a couple of times before he gathered the necklace in one hand, closed his fist, and stood.

Stepping closer to Felix, speaking under his breath, he kept his eyes on his father as he spoke. "This was no burglary." Opening his hand, showing his bodyguard what he found, he scoffed. "Do you have any idea how much I paid for this?"

Cutting in without really thinking about it, Felix snorted. "Do you have any idea what Aro is going to do to you if he finds out?"

Locking his eyes on Felix's, "Is he going to?" When Demetri saw him roll his eyes, he licked his lips. "I sent it six months ago when the fidelity clause kicked in. I used a dummy account, didn't sign anything by name, and I wasn't the one that gave it to the courier. It was delivered straight from the jeweler, but that is not the point. The point is, if this was a robbery gone wrong as they are so convinced, and by some miracle said robber was able to get out of the house without a trace as they say, this is small and worth hundreds. It would have fit in their pocket. They tore it from her neck before..." trailing off and clearing his throat, "I simply cannot imagine a burglar, whose only purpose of entering someone else's home is to steal their shit, would go through so much trouble just to leave it behind."

Pursing his lips, Felix let his roam around him, taking one last glance at the total destruction in the room. Looking at it from a completely different perspective, he also caught sight of other things littered about the space that could have also easily been taken, but were instead broken. Nodding slow and shallow, Felix looked back at Demetri. "So whoever it was, was here for her specifically."

Closing his fingers back around the necklace, Demetri tucked it away in his inner jacket pocket. "I haven't seen a single detail that says otherwise."

Following after the prince as he made to leave the house again, Felix flung Isabella's bag over his shoulder, still keeping his voice down. "And you still don't think this has anything to do you?"

Pausing at the top of the steps that led to the driveway, Demetri pulled the collar of his coat up against gust of cold wind, and didn't bother to whisper any longer. "The only way to know that, either way, is to find Charles Swan."


	2. Chapter 2

As Isabella began to crawl out from under the darkness and started to become more aware of her surroundings, it was anything but gentle. Her movements weren't just faster than they should have been, but they were also pretty harsh when she opened her eyes with a low groan and didn't immediately recognize where she was.

Her actions were regretted as soon as they happened, but she couldn't help it. She pushed herself up with both hands, fire shooting up to her shoulder from her broken forearm and her vision failed her when she snapped her head from side to side, making her dizzy and slightly nauseous. She was completely disoriented and her sight was blurry, keeping her from being able to focus on any particular thing in the far too bright room.

Closing her eyes against the light, she pressed the heel of her left hand between them, another groan slipping past her lips as she battled back her stomach. The head rush she gave herself was certainly the last thing she needed, but it was almost as her previous actions were not her own. The last thing she remembered was waking up that morning, so to wake up a second time when she didn't recall going back to bed, paired with knowing immediately she wasn't actually in her bed, was absolutely terrifying.

The world hadn't yet stopped spinning when she felt an unexpected hand settle on her shoulder, leading her to have to catch herself, once again on her broken arm, when she wrenched herself out of the hold and snapping the direction the person that hand belonged to had to be. Blinking to clear her still unfocused eyes, her body shook as she pushed herself as far from him as the railings of the bed would allow her.

She watched with shaking, panting breaths as the man she had no memory of ever seeing before backed up two steps, his hands up, palms forward in a sigh of near surrender, his dark green eyes slightly wider than would be normal. Nearly vibrating, Isabella finally took her weight off her casted arm, bringing it in front of her, but not lessening any of the distance she put between herself and this random man that was looking at her like he was as scared of her as she was of him. Her voice was quiet and shook as she pushed it past trembling lips. "Who are you?"

Keeping his hands up and staying back, hoping to come across as nonthreatening as he could possibly make himself, Alec kept his low and level. "My name is Alec, My Lady, and you really need to calm down." Watching a shadow slide through Bella's eyes, his own shifted from her to the heart monitor she was hooked up to, watching her heart rate climb. Not looking away from the screen, he continued to speak in a level tone. "You have a very serious concussion. If you don't settle, someone will be in to make you." Looking back at her, and though he slowly lowered his hands, he remained where he was. "Is that what you want?" Hearing a nearly silent no, Alec nodded slowly. "Then lay back down, and breathe. I can personally guarantee nothing is going to happen to you here."

She didn't. She did attempt to calm down by taking slow deep breaths, but she didn't move an inch from where she was, refusing to lay back down, but instead asked another question. "What happened?"

Brow sliding up to his bangs, Alec crossed his arms as he retook the seat he had been sitting in the for the last couple of hours. "Funny thing about that; I was hoping to ask you the same thing."

While she hadn't completely calmed down, Isabella did settle herself enough to lose some of the rigidness in her spine. It wasn't enough to actually lay down as she had been told to, but it was enough for her to lower her hunched shoulders. Her eyes, which had mostly cleared, went distant again as she searched for something, anything, to explain why she was in what she finally recognized as the hospital.

She took several long moments in the attempt, but finally, her eyes still looking off into the distance, she shook her head slowly. "I... I don't know. I don't remember."

Alec nodded in response, mostly ready for that answer since he knew what he did about head trauma. It didn't make it any less inconvenient since he needed to know who it was he needed to protect her from, but from what he saw of her house, it might actually be better for her if those memories never actually resurface. However, before he was able to ask her anything else, he very quietly heard her inquire as to the time. So, uncrossing his arms, he lifted the cuff of his shirt and looked at his watch. "It's twenty of twelve." Returning his eyes to her, Alec watched as her agitation returned once again, and in full fucking force. It wasn't until she started trying to remove the needle in her arm he intervened, though.

Just because her sight had cleared didn't mean her mind had completely woken back up. All it meant was she could see, and used that ability to pick at the tape that held the IV line against her skin, repeating over and over she had to go. Pulling away from Alec once again when he reached out a hand to her, she looked at him, still picking at the tape on her arm. "I have to go."

This time, refusing to back off, Alec once again reached his arm out, clamping his hand over the tape his charge was picking at, looking her dead in the eyes as he did so, and put some force into his voice. "Stop it."

This time she was a little more inclined to listen, but even though she didn't pull away from him, she did argue. "No, I have to go. I'm supposed to be getting married soon."

Keeping his eyes on hers, Alec softened, but only slightly. "That is being sorted out as we speak, but I promise you, you're not leaving for at least another several hours if you leave today at all." When she cut in with a 'but', Alec smirked at her. "The only way you're leaving this room is if you go through them to do it, so you may as well go ahead and just lay back down, My Lady, because you're not going anywhere."

Turning to look over her shoulder, Bella saw the backs of four men outside the window-like wall, two to either side of the door with about five feet between each pair, one of them even blocking the seam where the door opened, proving Alec right. If no one was getting in without going through him, it was only going to be through him that someone left. The fight didn't completely leave her, but changed from frantic and jagged movements to more glares and attitude. "I liked you a lot better a few minutes ago."

Alec, however, just shrugged as he released her arm. "I'm alright with that." Letting out a long, loud breath as he retook his seat, he picked up the puzzle book he had been playing with when his charge began to come to. "I'm not here to be liked." Crossing his ankle on his knee, he opened the back to the crossword he had been working on and pulled his pen back out of his jacket pocket as he settled himself back in to wait for Demetri to show up. "Get some rest while you can, My Lady. Someone is bound to be in to see you shortly."

A half hour later, Isabella discovered very quickly the last thing this Alex guy was, was a liar. That acknowledged, however, he also didn't seem overly inclined to give her all the important information, or at least, what everyone but apparently him would consider important.

When he told her someone was bound to be in shortly, she had assumed him to mean the doctor since she was in the hospital, but that wasn't who it was she saw the next time she opened her eyes. She couldn't remember falling back to sleep, but she didn't think it was for very long before one of those extremely unnerving falling dreams woke her up. Her eyes snapped open, and the monitor was going crazy, but she just closed her eyes again, waving off Alec when she heard him say 'My Lady' in a cross between a warning and curious tone. Instead of telling him shit, she just told him to 'fuck off', which prompted a snort from someone else she didn't know was present.

"What the fuck did you do to piss her off?"

That was a voice _anyone_ would know, regardless of head trauma, and when Isabella heard it, she felt a flood of ice water slide down her spine. She was just about ready to rip the leads to the heart monitor off her damn self, because her heart actually stopped, confirmed by the stupid thing, when she rolled her head slowly to the side, and saw the Crowned Prince, of all fucking people, standing with Alec over by the door.

Alec, however, in response to Demetri's question, just grinned. "Well, Your Majesty, at least I'm not the one giving the lady a heart attack."

Face falling into one of annoyance, Demetri cut his eyes to Alec and pointed to the door. "Get out." He watched as Alec dipped his head, first to him, then to Isabella, before he twisted on his toes and stepped out into the hall, sliding the door closed behind him and taking up a position next to Felix. Shaking his head, he returned his sights to the woman in the bed. "I will say he isn't so bad once you simply accept the fact while doing his job, Alec does have a tendency to be an asshole at times."

Every step he took closer to the bed, the higher the heart rate on the monitor climbed, prompting Demetri to stop three feet away and clasp his hands behind his back. There was a grin on his lips and a light amusement in his voice when he addressed his betrothed. "Do I make you nervous?"

There was no thought on Bella's part whatsoever when she gave a shallow nod of her head. "Yes."

Lips twisting slightly, Demetri hummed quietly in the back of his throat as he looked to the ceiling. "Well, that's terribly inconvenient." Looking back at her, he smiled as he held out a hand to the chair that Alec had been using since she was admitted for observation. "May I?" Not moving an inch until he saw her nod, Demetri walked around the bed, shrugging off his coat and dropping it over the bed table as he passed it. By the time he took a seat in the chair, his Intended's heart rate was at a far more acceptable pace, so he gave himself a moment to take in what he could see of her and compare it to what he remembered from the last time he saw her.

Her color was certainly better, though almost anything would have been better than the near white she had been. Her cast ran from her knuckles to nearly her elbow, confirming Felix correct about the broken arm. He could only guess the random bandages that littered her arms were covering stitches since he had seen some pretty deep puncture wounds. The bruise on her face had finally surfaced, but it was still hard to tell if it was from a closed fist or a full force backhand. He could tell, however, the point of impact was just below her left cheekbone by the darkness of the bruise itself and the way it spread across that side of her face. She was lucky, he supposed, that whoever it was that struck her didn't have better aim, or there was a very real possibility they could have broken her cheek if they had hit their actual target.

The worst of the external injuries was still hidden from his sight by a bandage, and that was the gash on her forehead that had already been seen to by the plastic surgeon. He had been told due to the jagged edges there would always be a scar, but as time passed, it would eventually fade and become barely noticeable. As far as good news versus bad news when it came to some barbarian beating the shit out of a woman goes, the fact there wouldn't always be in her face evidence of it did sort of tilt the scale slightly more to the good news side of things, though he doubted she would see it that way, and he couldn't blame her for that. He didn't see it that way, either. He was no less angry over the situation now as he was three hours ago and he doubted she would be when she was told the extent of her injuries.

From the placement of the two facial injuries though, Demetri was able to figure out they were mostly likely sustained back to back, which would account for the concussion as well. Two massive head injuries sustained so closely together would allow the brain to bounce around within the skull enough to leave it bruised as it was. He also assumed that she was hit first, which then knocked her into whatever it was she whacked the right side of her head on. When she received her other numerous injuries was anyone's guess, but logic dictated one head injury was the direct result of the other.

While the prince was taking stock of her injuries, Isabella was doing much the same, only she was documenting every last perfect inch of skin he wasn't covering. She had no personal memories of ever seeing him in person, and the Master Guard always kept such a tight area of personal space around him that news cameras never showed videos of him so up close. She had seen close ups on the cover of magazines, but generally speaking, those were professional photoshoots, so she had always assumed the images were touched up prior to release. She hated him just a little bit after the discovery that that wasn't the case, and he really did look as perfect as those covers said he did.

It was his eyes, though, that she couldn't look away from if she wanted to. They were such a deep blue they were nearly inhuman. Around the pupil was a lighter persian, but the lionshare was a dark phthalo that commanded every ounce of attention she had to give. For as intense as his eyes were, though, Isabella found them so incredibly calming that not only did her heart rate fall back into a normal rhythm, she was also able to settle a little further into her pillow.

Having what could arguably be the worst day of her life, and having hands down the worst headache she'd ever had, Bella was finding it very difficult to muster up the ability to show the prince his proper respect, but she also couldn't say she really tried when she became the one to break the silence between them. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand why you're here."

Crossing one ankle over his knee, Demetri laced his fingers over his stomach, regarding Isabella for a moment, using that time to decide how exactly he was going to answer that. Coming up with several ways, he settled on direct to this particular conversation since he wasn't sure just how engaged she actually was. Tilting his head slightly to the side, he licked his lips and let out a thoughtful hum. "Considering the fact that we're to wed in oh..." turning his wrist and glancing at his watch, "twenty minutes or so," looking back at the now wide eyes woman, "I'm not exactly sure where else I should be."

Once again, the heart monitor gave away her internal reaction, though it was hardly needed by the look on her face. It lost all color and she choked on her breath she was already having a hard time catching because of the broken ribs she had. Gaping like a fish, making what had to be the worst fucking first impression in human history, Bella just looked at him, barely comprehending what he had just said. Eyes wide as dinner plates, her uncasted hand come up and covered her mouth, hiding quivering lips as she let out a shaky breath. "What?"

Demetri, that same grin from before returning to his lips, just lifted a shoulder slightly. "Surprise, My Princess." Having just about as much of the beeping from the monitor as Bella clearly had, he stood up and pushed a button on the screen to make the noise stop, and while he was standing, reached into his suit jacket he was still wearing, pulling out a long velveteen case. Presenting it to her, he smiled. "I believe this is yours, My Darling."

Something tingling in the back of her foggy mind at hearing him say that name, but she wasn't able to completely connect the dots when Demetri opened the lid, showing off the necklace that laid inside. Sucking in a breath at the sight of the glittering pink diamonds, her eyes snapped up to the Prince's, her hand only falling slightly away from her lips. "How did you..." trailing off, she looked back at the necklace, not able to recall how she lost it in the first place.

Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, Demetri set the box in Isabella's open hand, picking the necklace up by the replaced chain. Looking at it himself for a moment, he unlocked the clasp and waited for her to sit up and lean forward, reaching around her neck and clasping it, using the back of his hand to move her hair out from under it. Folding his hands on his thigh, he looked at the charm she was holding in her fingers, his lips turned down in the corners. "I found it under some glass on your living room floor."

A frown coming to her own lips as she looked at the necklace she hadn't taken off since she received it, her brows drew down as she bit into the center of her bottom lip. Flicking her eyes back to his, she blinked. "How did you know it was mine?"

To the question, Demetri just shrugged. "Because I'm the one that bought it."

Once again feeling like shock stole her breath, Bella's lips parted as her jaw went lax. "Wait... this was from you?"

One brow sliding smoothly up his forehead, Demetri clicked his tongue. "Is there another suitor I should know about?"

Jolting at the unexpected question, Bella was quick to shake her head, as bad of an idea as it was, but tried very hard to defuse the situation. "No; no nothing like that. I just... I just never knew who it was from."

Shifting slightly where he was sitting, Demetri leaned to the side, propping himself up with one arm stretched over Bella's legs while the other settled across his lap. Glancing at the necklace that was now resting on top of her hospital gown, he moved his eyes back to hers and his expression softened in the face of her clear distress. "When it arrived, who did you think sent it?"

Leaning back into her pillow, Bella wrapped her arms around herself as she looked at her lap and away from Demetri's piercing gaze. She wasn't sure she wanted to admit who she hoped the necklace was from, but eventually, she just shook her head slightly. "It arrived the day I graduated and even though I knew better, I had hoped it was from my mother." Lifting her eyes back to his, she made a face as she hunched her shoulders. "She left so long ago I guess, I just, I wanted to believe she still cared." Then, there was a spark of something in the back of her eyes Demetri didn't catch before she cleared her throat. "It never crossed my mind it could have been from," making air quotes, "'The Guy', because there wasn't supposed to be any contact, Your Majesty."

Unable to help it, Demetri smirked as he chuckled. "Out of the all the limitations place on us, I have always found that rule to be particularly stupid." Then, lifting his arm from his lap, he held his hand out. "And my name is Demetri."

Sliding her tongue along her bottom lip, she pulled it between her teeth as she looked at his presented hand. Not really sure what the protocol was here, but, figuring since he wasn't currently acting like the royalty he was, she took his cue and set her uncasted hand in his with a small smile on her lips. "Isabella, but please, just call me Izzy."

Grinning wider, Demetri closed his fingers around hers, turned their hands, and brought the back of her knuckles to his lips. "It's my pleasure, Izzy." Placing a light kiss on her skin, smiling at her when he saw her blush darken, he lowered their hands but didn't release hers. While he tried to broach the subject as gently as he could, it wasn't something that had a decent lead in. So, with a sigh through his nose, he rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. "We do not have a lot of time before my father arrives, and this is certainly not my choice of topic for our first conversation in a very long time, but I do need to ask," returning his eyes to her face, "what happened this morning?"

Bella, however, kept her eyes on their joined hands, the smile and blush from a moment ago gone as a thoughtful frown tugged at her lips. She hadn't lied before when she told Alec she didn't know, but she did go in more detail when she answered Demetri. "I don't know. I remember packing my bag before going to bed last night. I remember waking up earlier than I wanted to. Something woke me up, but I don't know what it was and I don't remember if I tried to figure it out. There was always something going on in that place, so I don't think I thought anything of it. I remember getting a shower, getting dressed, grabbing my bag and..." shrugging slightly as she looked at Demetri, "and then waking up here."

Nodding slow as she spoke, Demetri licked his lips and tilted his head. "Has anything like that ever happened before?"

Even not having a clear memory of what occurred, she could answer that, but only because she was in the hospital. Sliding the fingers of her casted hand through her hair, she swallowed hard as she scratched the back of her head. "Once, when I was fourteen. It was a couple of weeks after my birthday and on the ten year anniversary of the day my mother left. I don't really remember what I did that set him off, but... it was bad, I remember that much."

Knowing his father kept a certain number of tabs on her, and a trip to the hospital would have been one of them, Demetri's lips pursed. He was positive he knew the answer, but there was nothing quite like confirmation. "Did you receive medical care at that time?"

The snort was out before she could stop it, and her expression was overcome with a flat amusement. "Right, because he cared enough to make sure he didn't kill me on the dining room floor. Truth be told, he actually looked rather disappointed when I was finally able to get up."

It hadn't escaped Demetri's notice Isabella hadn't given a name and only referred to the responsible party as 'he', but it was enough to more or less convince him he had been right about her father's involvement considering this had been going on for, at minimum, six years being a handful of weeks past her twentieth birthday.

Before he was able to get too far down the road of what he intended to do to his impending father in-law when the bastard was finally located, his attention was pulled back to his Intended's when she lightly cleared her throat.

Bella, the corner of her lip between her teeth, decided to change the topic of conversation away from what it was and point it back to something that was already said. "So, before, you said our first conversation in a very long time." Seeing Demetri give a languish nod of his head, she licked her lips. "What did you mean."

Demetri, just shrugged. "Exactly what I said. It was only once, but we've met before as children."

While there could have been no other explanation for having past conversation than having past interaction, for her life, Isabella couldn't remember ever once being in this particular person's direct presence. Even with her, admittedly, overactive imagination, she also couldn't imagine an instance in which it would have happened. Her first clear memory was the day her mother left, and life didn't exist before then being only four at the time. With a shake of her head, Bella sighed. "I don't remember that."

Demetri, not surprised at all, just shrugged again. "That's not all that shocking, to be honest. I barely remember it and I'm older than you. Now, I don't suggest taking seventeen year old childhood memories as gospel or anything, but what little I can recall of it is, we met at a park, you couldn't pronounce my name properly, and at the end of the impromptu play date, during which I can only guess we had very good time, I told my father I was going to marry you one day. With no actual understanding as to what that meant, here were are because my father is an analytical jackass that took far too much to heart the excited ramblings of a five year old. I don't know what occurred that day to lead me to declare such a thing, but I can only assume it was the fact that you were the only person prior to, and subsequently since then, that didn't treat me as a prince, and instead just another child on the playground. Whether that's true or not, I have no fucking idea, but regardless of that, what I do know is, it was that day that lead to this one."

Completely unsure how it was she was supposed to feel about this revelation, Bella remained quiet for several moments as she tried to digest it. She had absolutely no recollection of what he was talking about, and she couldn't stop herself from wandering, albeit briefly, if her life went the way it did because of that innocent declaration he made as a child that no one in their right mind would have listened to. However, if she considered that, she knew she also had to take the same moment to consider the other side of the coin, and that was her betrothal to the Crowned Prince being very likely the only reason she was even still alive. She doubted even her smoothing talking father would have been able to come up with a decent enough explanation as to how it happened, and there would have been no hiding anything he had ever done to her once it got back to the king his son's chosen future bride was dead.

If logic dictated reason, then the only logical reason Isabella could come up with she was still among the living was because of the man the boy from a past she was young at the time to remember had turned into.


	3. Chapter 3

The silence that stretched between Isabella and Demetri wasn't necessarily uncomfortable, but it did hold a bite to it as the pair sized each other up.

Demetri's entire life was lived in the public eye, whether he wanted it to be or not, and over the years through watching the news, or reading the paper, or just general conversation on the rare occasion she ventured out of the house, Isabella learned he grew into a very fair and compassionate man, but like anyone else, was prone to bouts of losing what had been described as a very volatile temper.

He didn't suffer fools, had clearly defined lines in the sand, and did not play games when it came to where they fell. She remembered reading once some time ago that it was because of his notoriously nasty temper that the Master Guard, an elite group of specially trained royal guards assigned as bodyguards to the Prince, kept such a tightly monitored area of personal space around him. She also learned from that article that it wasn't for Demetri's safety that area was there, but for the safety of others because unlike basically every other royal before him, Demetri not only knew how to fight, but he also wasn't even slightly afraid to do so if someone pissed him off. This wasn't something she could, or would, hold against him. Honestly, she wished she had that kind of confidence in herself.

Even with that acknowledged though, she couldn't remember a single instance, ever, where his temper was taken out on a woman. She had seen plenty of live broadcasts where one or more had been screaming in his face, calling him some atrocious shit, and all he ever did was smile and thank them for it. He never raised his voice back or lost his relaxed posture and pleasant attitude, even while others around him responded with just as much crudness. When he did engage these woman, it was never without the utmost respect and a marked lack of condescension. He didn't speak down to them, even while everyone else watching the happenings, present and on TV, would be calling them everything under the sun.

She had spent nearly her whole life afraid of the man she was promised to marry, and the further down her road of thought she went, the angrier Isabella started to become. She knew she couldn't blame Demetri for it. He wasn't allowed any contact with her, either. But, to find out she had spent her life linked to someone with the ability to help her when she could have really used that help left a very sour taste in her mouth. She did know the reason the rule was in place was to remove any bias going into the marriage if they didn't like each other upon meeting when they were too young to marry, but that didn't make it any less stupid because if they didn't like each other, they didn't like each other and five or six years between meeting as teenagers and marrying as adults wasn't going to change that. Then to also discover they had met before, and apparently got along very well, keeping that no contact bullshit in place just seemed very cruel to her; especially since she knew had there been any contact between them over the last seventeen years, she likely wouldn't have spent the last ten of them being her father's personal punching bag.

Oh, her father was quite the doting one in the public eye, but behind closed doors it was a very different story. In that private setting, he never missed the opportunity to tell her how he sold her off, and tell her how much he hoped her future master was worse than him; how if there was a God she would live a life of complete and total misery because that was exactly what she deserved. He told her daily it was her fault her mother left and she was why she stayed gone, telling her it was because she such a horrible daughter. With a sneer he would tell her once she was out of the picture his wife would come back to him as soon as she no longer had to be a mother to her.

The emotional and verbal abuse started within days of her mother walking out the front door, and only being four at the time, Isabella believed it. For several years she took to heart every nasty word she had been told. It wasn't until she was just about ten she began to wander whether or not what her father said was actually true, or if her mother left because he was just as big of an asshole to her. While that thought certainly didn't raise Renee in Isabella's view for leaving her behind to deal with the fallout of her walking away from an abusive jackass, her ability to find fault in her mother's choice lessened, and she began to grow numb to the mental beating she had been taking for six years.

As her physical reaction to words waned, that's when the actual beatings began, because Heaven forbid Charlie didn't get his fucking reaction. He would see her cry on a daily basis, even if it came to putting his hands on her to do it.

She was under no disillusion Demetri could have saved her from it all, but she was also quite positive he would have at least listened to her when she said she didn't do something to herself. She wasn't really all that clumsy, but there where several people in her daily life that thought her incapable of walking across a flat surface because of how many times falling was cited as the reason for one injury or another. She also discovered that young girls who were abandoned by their mothers do very foolish things, up to and, apparently including, throwing themselves down a flight of stairs for the attention it brought them.

She had absolutely no idea how many broken bones she's had over her life that didn't heal properly because she had never once seen a doctor before, but she was more than a little scared to see what her x-rays would look like because of that. She also had no idea why no one ever questioned why she had never been to the ER or something similar, especially after being told she went down a flight a steps, but everyone seemed more inclined to listen to her father over her, because she was nothing but a poor, troubled girl that harmed herself because she missed her mother and he didn't think giving her the attention she so desperately sought was a good idea.

Three cheers for Father of the fucking Year.

Likewise, Demetri, as he sat on the bed watching Isabella's dark eyes darkened even more, contemplated for only a moment on going ahead and outright asking the question burning his tongue, but refrained. At the present moment, nothing good would come from it, of that he was positive. Instead, he used the same time Isabella took to readjust his own expectations. He never once thought things would between them would be easy, but he also didn't think he would arrive to pick her up for breakfast and find her the way she was. It was certainly going to add more layers of stress and difficulty to an already stressful and difficult situation, and, as far as he was concerned, she dealt with enough difficulties, and deserved something to be nice and simple... which had been the plan.

Originally, the day, for as momentous as it was, was actually meant to be extraordinarily simple. He was to pick her up for breakfast where they would have roughly an hour together before he was to drop her off at the church by ten, giving her two hours to prepare for the ceremony that would last from twelve to two. After which, they would have three hours to do whatever it was they wanted before arriving at the reception venue at five where they would spend the rest of their evening.

The wedding was, by design, meant to keep both his and Isabella's stress levels down as low as possible because as had been learned over the last sixty-five generations of Demetri's family, the more stressful the wedding day, the more stressful the marriage itself since it was their first impression of the other. As far as that went, they didn't even plan it, tradition and station dictating the vast majority of what most couples, mainly the bride, ripped their hair out over. They were meant to basically just show up, have a good time, and start to get to know the other without a bunch of bullshit over something not coming out as planned to distract their attention or lead to fit because something wasn't right.

Demetri didn't have a say in anything, and the only thing Isabella did was her dress. However, though she was able to pick it out, it was altered slightly after the fact to include two very specific Crowned Jewels placed at the hip where the bodice met the skirt that had adorned the dress of every woman that married into the position of Princess and red around the hem at the bottom of the skirt. The only reason he knew that was because it was his decision where the jewels and color were placed, and the two choices where on the bustline or the waistline. Having seen the jewels, he figured for as large as they were, that placement would be more comfortable in the long run and putting color at the bottom of the skirt wouldn't ruin the appearance of the dress that was chosen, even though he had not seen the dress himself.

Now, however, there was a very good chance she wouldn't even get to wear it, and Demetri found himself curious if that would add any additional weight to Isabella's shoulders, where to him, it looked as though the weight of the world already sat.

Arranged marriages were already full of challenges that took a mastery of knowing the unknown to overcome, and anything else that was added only made things unnecessarily harder, and in this case, most of the added challenges were avoidable. So, as he drummed his fingers on his wife-to-be's hospital bed, Demetri made the decision that when it comes time for their son to marry, this no contact crap was the first thing to fucking go. While propriety would absolutely be practiced, their son would also absolutely have the ability to protect his Intended if necessary.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the backs of the guards snap straight, signaling only one thing...

Aro had arrived.

Letting out a long, audible breath from his nose, Demetri flicked his eyes to Bella's. "Izzy." Once she was looking at him, he ran his tongue along the back of his bottom lip before he clicked it. "I cannot begin to imagine what you've had to deal with, but I promise I will spend every day of the rest of my life trying it make every bit of it I can up to you; including this particularly sad nuptial exchange."

Though her stomach clenched, Bella was able to push her voice past her shock lodged in her throat. "So, this isn't a hallucination? This is really happening?"

A slow smile pulled at Demetri's lips as he lowered his voice, leaning just a hair closer to her. "I'm afraid so." Winking at her, he then turned his attention to the door of the room as it slid open, acknowledging Aro's entrance with nothing more than a 'Father'.

While Demetri made no move to stand or anything else, Isabella did try to sit up a little straighter in her bed, though the pressure on the blanket over her legs made it very difficult to do so. Just like she had no idea how she was supposed to act when Demetri came in, she had no idea what she was supposed to do in the presence of the King himself in the position she was in, so she did the only thing she could really do.

She gaped at him like a fish.

Aro, while he did first glance to Isabella and give her a small smile to try and put her at at least a slight ease, turned his attention to his son after a short moment. "We're ready when you are."

Cutting his eyes back to Bella, Demetri hummed before looking back to his father and lifting a hand, and holding up his finger. "Just... one moment more, Father." Seeing the nod in response, he waited until Aro stepped back out in the hall before he returned his sights to his now sheet white betrothed who was looking back at him with wide eyes and parted lips. Licking his own, he once again lowered his voice since his father left the door open. "My Darling, we will take this one day, one _thing_ , at time if we must. There will be no pressure on your part, and no expectation on mine, but Isabella, this is exactly what was going to happen today, and you know that." Glancing at his watch to check the time, "I told you when I came in we were getting married in twenty minutes and it's been twenty-five.

"Now, the venues for today's events are indeed different than intended, but there would still have been the same shock when my guards showed up at your door as there was when I walked in the room. Our time together prior is certainly shorter and not used as either of us would have liked, but we still had it. The venue may be different, My Darling, and this evening's festivities might not be attended, but the events as a whole have, and are still going, to happen; even if not according to the original plan."

Isabella listened to what was being said, and she did understand what he was saying. She did know when she woke up she was getting married, and he was right in the fact that everything that happened so far was going to happen regardless of her father getting one last hurrah before he would never be able to touch her again. She did wonder briefly if he had neglected to look at the date on the calendar, forgot what day the wedding was, or if over the years Charlie had actually convinced himself he sold her off to someone as fucked up as he was so it wouldn't matter who showed up at the door, but in the end she also knew it didn't really matter, either.

If anything that could be considered good came from all the times she had been told her husband to be was a monster, it made her hyper aware of the impending wedding date, so she was ready to go, because she didn't want to find out what would happen if she kept him waiting.

Teeth sunk into her bottom lip, Isabella looked in Demetri's eyes, seeing nearly nothing but calm as _he_ waited _her_ out, something she was not used to. There was also a cool anger in the back of his ocean colored orbs, but somehow, she knew it wasn't for her. It told her he didn't want to do this like this either, but the choice wasn't theirs. What made things even more mind boggling to her that it wasn't just a regular wedding he was holding up until she was a hair more comfortable with the situation. He was making the King himself wait on her, and that knowledge once again made her stomach tighten. No, she didn't think a collective three hours between meeting and entering a church would have been enough time to not want to throw up all over fucking royalty, but it would have been far better than the less than thirty minutes she actually had.

Even still, Demetri was right. This had been the plan for this afternoon for almost two decades, so pulling her teeth from her lip and running her tongue across it to sooth the slight burn that was left, Isabella gave a shallow nod and let out a shallow breath. "Okay."

A smirk pulled at Demetri's lips as a chuckle sounded in his throat. "I don't think have ever heard a more 'let's get this over with' in my life." He watched as she glanced away, her nose and cheeks darkening slightly before she flicked her eyes back to his, but his smirk was still in place. "Well, if that's your wish, My Darling, you should happy to know ninety percent of all the bullshit is going to skipped so you can get some rest." When both of Isabella's brows shot to her hairline, Demetri shrugged. "We were told to try and keep the excitement to a minimum because, according to your doctors, the best thing for you right now is actually sleep. It's what my father was seeing to this last little while. He had to talk to the officiant about how short things were going to have to be. There will be one prayer, the vows, and that's it."

Well, now she knew what he meant by a 'particularly sad nuptial exchange'. Not only was she getting married in a hospital bed, but it was basically a joke of a ceremony followed by other people getting to go to a party that evening, in celebration of the joke of a ceremony, that she might not get to attend herself. Couples that elope got more than that, and as she settled herself against her pillow, because she was actually very tired, Bella sighed through her nose. "I want a redo."

Smirk morphing into a smile, Demetri nodded at her. "When ever you desire."

After one last agreeable nod from Bella, Demetri called his father back into the room, who was accompanied by the officiant, Alec, and Felix, the latter two closing both the door and drawing the blinds across the glass wall.

From her place, Bella watched as the four men took up different positions around her bed and, while more than slightly uncomfortable with it, she made herself feel better by discreetly setting her casted right hand on the call button that was laying by her leg. Aro and the Officiant stood at the foot of the bed, Alec talking up a place at her right, and the other guy she didn't remember seeing at her house stood on the left by Demetri. While she was able to figure out their purpose, it was just being alone with five men was new for her, but she swallowed the fear down and turned her attention to the officiant when he began talking.

Demetri, on the other hand, never took his eyes off her, watching as her eyes would shift every few seconds to one person or another. It was quick, but he didn't miss the fear that flashed through her eyes. He did bow his head when the priest said his blessing of their marriage, but he didn't close his eyes, and neither did she.

As a matter of fact, neither one moved at all until they were each presented with a ring for the other, and ten minutes after he entered the room, the officiant made the declaration of marriage between them, with little more than asking them if they agreed to the terms over their vows opposed to the pair repeating them. The moment of truth came after that, when Demetri was told he could kiss his bride. She should have had roughly five hours to prepare for that, not less than forty-five minutes.

Demetri, however, had a plan for that, and instead of leaning in for their first kiss at all, much less as a married couple, he picked up her left hand, brought the back of her knuckles to his lips, and kissed the rings he placed there. He just winked at her when he saw shock flitter across her eyes before turning to look at his father when he heard Aro clear his throat.

Looking at his son for a moment, Aro then crooked a finger at him as he turned to leave the room, saying nothing.

Demetri, having an idea what it was about, stood from the side of bed and, leaving his new princess in the care of Alec and Felix, followed after his father, and closed the door behind him, crossing his arms and waiting.

Aro, mirroring his son's position, went ahead and jumped in. "I personally remained at the Swan Estate while the house was researched, and no one was found."

Scoffing hard and rolling his eyes, Demetri grunted, shaking his head. Licking his lips, he then looked his father dead in the eyes. "Then either Matteo and his men are completely inept, or they're complicit."

A look of afrontment overtook Aro's face as hit lip curled. "On what grounds are you making such serious accusations, Demetri?"

Closing his eyes and scratching his brow, Demetri sighed. "On the grounds that I'm not a fucking idiot." Looking back at his father, he gave him a serious look. "People don't just vanish into thin air, Father. Now, you tell me which is the more likely scenario; a ghost is responsible, or a man of means paid one of your guards to say he didn't find him. So, which is it? Are your guards stupid, or is one of them compromised? Otherwise, you're standing there expecting me to believe there is a man with the ability to teleport knowing I am far too old to believe in magic."

Frowning, Aro hummed in the back of his throat. Whether he wanted to do it or not, he had to admit, his son still had a point, just as he did back at the house before he left. Aro wasn't stupid enough to think Demetri hadn't already asked Isabella about happened, so he had also assume his son had information he didn't. However, since she was now Demetri's wife, he decided to allow Demetri to handle the overall investigation and, ultimately, what happens to the one, or ones, discovered responsible.

Drumming his fingers on his bicep, Aro clicked his tongue as his head tilted slightly to the side. "Alright, Demetri. Since you seem to be so distrusting of the guards I've chosen to oversee the investigation, why don't you take things from here? Use whoever you want, and I won't interfere."

A slow brow slid up Demetri's forehead as a smirk slid across his lips. "Anyone?"

Knowing exactly where this was going, Aro sighed out a grunt and shook his head. "Keep him on a leash, Demetrius; I am not joking."

The definition of sadistic anticipation overtook Demetri's face as he watched his father walk away, and pulled out his phone. "Of course." Dialing a very good friend of his number, he crossed his free arm over his chest again as he set the device to his ear. It took three rings before he heard the greeting of 'Sire' in his ear, and his smirk widened. "Caius, I have a job for you."


	4. Chapter 4

There was a moment of hesitation on everyone's part that needed to speak with the prince when it came to the care and current recovery of the princess as they approached the four _heavily_ armed guards that stood vigilant outside her hospital room. Even the knowledge they have done nothing wrong, or knowing they had no malicious intent, prevented the pause several feet away. It didn't matter how many times they approached the room, either. As soon as they left the guards' line of sight, they were subjected to the same search they were the very first time the guards laid eyes on them.

And the ass clenching didn't stop once they were cleared to enter, either, because on the other side of the covered windows where two more armed guards that almost seemed to take a level of pleasure as they stared whoever it was down the whole time they were in the room.

It was the biggest difference between the Royal Guard and the Master Guard. The Master Guard had a literal licence to kill while the Royal Guard was tasked with, hopefully, preventing the need for the Master Guard to ever pull their weapons. When it came to Master Guard Alec Caruso and Master Guard Felix Vega, however, they had this attitude, this air about them, that almost dared someone to try something; which was actually far more intimidating than the fact they both had a visible weapon attached to their hip they had absolutely no problem using.

It wasn't usually hospital policy to admit someone for observation with a concussion without extreme symptoms. Normally, they would just stay in the emergency room for an hour or two, but the reality of the situation was, because of who the patient was in addition to the armed guards, the ER wasn't exactly ideal. Bella had gone from the ambulance straight to radiology, then taken to the room she currently occupied, and been there the whole time. It was really better for everyone since the Master Guard that accompanied her would have shut the emergency room down to others due to the number of access points. Add in the armed Royal Guards, and the stress to those in the ER with heart conditions wasn't worth following policy, and she was admitted into a controllable environment the moment she arrived.

The doctor that needed to discuss Bella's discharge, who had been in and out of her room several times over the six hours since she was admitted for observation, was no different when it came to that moment of hesitation. He stood at the nurse's station for a good five minutes before he shook off the nerves to approach the door. He handed over the binder in his hand for one guard to flip through, looking for only God knew what, and held his arms out to the side while he was given a pat down, for the first time actually being relieved of something because he forgot his cell phone was still in his pocket.

Inside, he was immediately under the weight of two sets of eyes that were between him and his patient that all but made his stomach drop to his feet. Felix and Alec were sitting on either side of the rolling bed tray about two feet away from the bed itself playing cards, while Demetri was reading book in a chair on the other side of the bed that held the sleeping woman.

Demetri didn't even look up from what he was reading, just turned the page as he spoke to his dumbass friends. "Knock it off." Though he felt three sets of eyes on him, Demetri still didn't look up from his book, assuming the doctor was in for some test or another. "Let the man do his job, before I make you two incapable of doing yours."

The doctor watched as the guards looked to each other, glanced back at the prince, then to each other again before returning to their card game, appearing to ignore him completely. While positive that wasn't the case and the bodyguards were perfectly aware of his every move, the doctor shook off the tremor in his spine the best he could as he cleared his throat, stepped closer to the bed, and looked at Demetri. "Actually, Your Majesty; I'm here to speak with you."

Still not moving from his position in his chair, Demetri lifted his head and looked at the doctor. "Then you have my attention."

Nodding slightly, the doctor brought the chart out from under his arm and opened it, scanning the front page quickly before returning his eyes to the prince. "We're going to be releasing Miss Swan..."

Demetri was very quick to cut in, and it was with a bite to his voice and a spark in his eyes. " _Mrs_. Voltalion, at the very least."

Hoping he was able to cover the cringe at clearly offending the man before him, the doctor cleared his throat again before licking his lips. "Of course, Sire. I was unaware, and you have my congratulation." Watching an expectant brow raise at him, he continued. "We will be releasing Her Lady Majesty. Her labs are good and we haven't seen anything overly concerning on the images. Since there haven't been any extremely worrying symptoms since she's been here, there is no reason she needs to sleep off her concussion here, however, she will need to take it easy, and the best thing for her is rest."

Closing his book and setting it to the side, Demetri crossed his arms as he nodded. "Very well. Anything else?"

Pulling a stack of papers from the folder in his hand, the doctor held them out to the prince and waited until he took them to continue. "The stitches will need to be removed in six days, but in the meantime, they do need to be kept dry. The cast can come off in six weeks, and same thing about keeping it dry. The broken ribs will take some weeks to heal, but are going to make her extremely uncomfortable. She needs to take it as easy, so no strenuous activities and no heavy lifting."

Flicking his eyes over the top of the care instructions he was handed, Demetri cocked a brow. "Define heavy lifting."

Lifting a shoulder, the doctor hummed. "Nothing over three to five pounds for the next couple of weeks would be the preference."

Rolling his head on his shoulders, Demetri clicked his tongue. "So, nothing heavier than a full gallon of milk." At the doctor's nod, Demetri set the paperwork down and recrossed his arms. "When can I take her home?"

"A nurse will be in a few minutes to discharge her and to remove the IV. After that, whenever you're ready to leave."

With a nod of understanding, Demetri smiled at the doctor. "Marvelous. Anything else?" When the doctor shook his head, he thanked the man as he reached into his inner jacket, pulling out his cell to find out the state of preparations to his house when it came to Isabella's arrival. It was still several hours until she was originally expected, prior to finding the woman bleeding on the floor of her father's house, his staff working within the time frame of the day's planned events. Since neither he nor his new bride were expected to return to the estate until well into the night hours, he was really hoping for a miracle his steward was able to see to everything that needed done with six less hours than thought.

When the prince set his phone to his ear, the doctor took that as the clear dismissal it was, and proceeded Alec out of the room, where he was promptly returned his phone that had been taken before he was allowed to enter the room. Expecting that to be that as far as his interaction with anyone connected to the princess, the doctor jumped about a foot in the air when, after handing Bella's chart back to the nurse that was supposed to oversee discharge, he turned to head to a different room and saw amused green eyes staring back at him.

A smirk on his lips, Alec chuckled as he crossed his arms. "Are you alright?"

Trying very hard to settle his pulse, the doctor cleared his throat before letting out a breath. "I'm fine. Was there something else you needed, Master Alec?"

With a nod, Alec clicked his tongue. "Yeah, actually. I'm going to need you to tell me what to look for when it comes to Her Lady Majesty's concussion when we leave. It's not that I don't trust your paperwork, but I don't trust your paperwork." Watching a look of affronted confusion filter over the doctor's face, Alec smiled. "Don't get pissy because I don't have as much faith in printed off universal instructions as you do. The majority of my job is to be skeptical of everyone and everything when it comes to the health, safety, and overall well-being of the Majesties. Very little of what I do on a daily basis doesn't revolve around that skepticism, so why don't you let me do my job by you doing yours, and tell me what's missing from the fucking paperwork."

Nearly positive he would rather deal with any other guard than the one standing in front of him, the doctor sighed through his nose as he slipped his hands into his coat pockets. "The instructions are as complete as they can be since every concussion is different. There are things you'll need to keep an eye out for over the next... eighteen hours or so. If she starts to vomit uncontrollably, shows an altered mental state, it becomes difficult to wake her up, or she develops difficulty speaking, she'll need to be brought back in immediately because are all signs the bruising is expanding instead of dissipating. She'll need to be woken up every couple of hours and asked questions. Easy things like her name, where she is, what year it is, things of that nature, but you have to give her a good minute or so to become aware, or she will get the answers wrong and there isn't really a cause for concern. However, if she still gets them wrong after a decent amount of time has passed, then there is, and bring her in. The last thing is, if she has a headache that lasts for more than a couple of days that is not due to the wound on her forehead, she'll need to be brought back in as well.

"It's like I told Prince Demetri; the best thing for her is rest. If she wants to sleep, by all means let her do so, but we are dealing with a brain injury, and brain injuries can become very bad, very quickly, even without early warnings. Just because she hasn't shown extreme symptoms doesn't necessarily mean she won't. Diligence, Master Alec, will be the name of the game."

Nodding as he filed what he was told away, the smile on Alec's face morphed into a smirk. "Now. that wasn't so difficult, was it?" Uncrossing his arms, he pulled his phone out and spoke again as he turned to walk away. "Have a good day, Doctor."

After Alec left with the doctor, Demetri kicked Felix out of the room as well as he stood from his seat. When he opened the gym bag Isabella had packed to take with her, he hadn't actually looked to see what was in it, only what it was. Now, there was a frown on his face when he got back into it, looking for something for her to put on that was weather appropriate, but found there wasn't anything. All that was in it was clothing to wear to bed, toiletries, and what was obviously a very important stuffed animal to her, because the rest of her belongings were supposed to be delivered to his house in the morning, so that was all she thought she needed. It was all of fifteen degrees outside, and she didn't even have a coat with her.

It was really his own fault. Had he paid attention to the contents of the overnight bag in the first place, this could have been dealt with hours ago. Instead, he had about twenty minutes, tops, to figure out how to keep his wife from freezing to death in the fifty feet from the hospital doors to the car. He only really had one option, and that's what he did.

Rezipping the gym bag, he instead went to the door of the room, sliding it open and looking for Felix, but saw Alec first. Once his guard was looking at him, he glanced back at his wife before speaking. "There's a gift shop on the first floor, right?"

A thoughtfully confused look settled on Alec's features as he hummed. "Maybe?" Shrugging his shoulders, "I mean there usually is. Why?"

"Go look and see if they have sweat pants or something more conducive to the weather. What she has isn't warm enough." When he saw Alec cock a brow, Demetri's expression leveled. "Don't look at me like that. Her bag was packed before the attack this morning, and just like everyone else, she thought she was wearing a wedding dress all day. A wedding dress, I'll remind you, was designed for the fact it's like five degrees outside. If I was her, I wouldn't have packed more than pajamas either."

Holding his hands up in a sigh of backing down, Alec was quick to defuse the prince's temper. "Okay, got it." But, before he left to do what he was told, he tilted his head. "Did anyone grab her coat?"

Shaking his head, Demetri licked his lips. "No, but she can wear mine." Flicking his fingers, "go, and be quick about it. I don't want to be here all day." Once Alec nodded and was walking away to do as he was told, Demetri then turned his sights on Angelo, the Royal Guard in charge. "We'll be leaving soon. You know what to do." After he got a nod from him, Demetri shut the door to Isabella's room. Running his hand down his face, then rubbing his palms together, he made his way over to the bed. Lowering the bed rail, he took a seat and set his hand on her shoulder. Giving her shoulder a squeeze opposed to shaking her awake, he kept his voice down and gently coached her to wake up.

Shifting slightly in her bed, there was a quiet moan on the air as Isabella slowly came back to herself, and when her eyes fluttered open, though there was some distance to them, her brown eyes were clear, though her voice was slightly rough. "I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and today didn't happen."

A small, amused smile pulled at Demetri's lips, and came out when he spoke. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, My Darling."

Swallowing to wet her throat, and cleared the roughness, Isabella licked her lips. "That's not what I meant."

With a chuckle in the back of his throat, Demetri grinned wider. "I know, Dearest; I'm fucking with you."

The fakest pout Demetri had ever seen over took Isabella's face as she frowned. "That's not very nice."

To which Demetri snorted. "Yes, well, something to get used to, I suppose, because I do a lot of things that aren't very nice." When he saw his wife's face go from a fake pout to something that actually resembles fear, he licked his lips and clicked his tongue. "Listen to me very carefully, My Dearest. Even those of us that live our lives in front of a camera have secrets. Not everything we do makes the headlines. That said, however, your life of fear is over. You will never, have anything, to fear from me."

Unable to help it, Bella giggled in what was clearly discomfort. "That... sounded very ominous."

Humming in the back of his throat, Demetri tilted his head. "I was always under the impression women liked their men to have a little mystery."

She didn't dispute that, she just shrugged as best as she could. "Mystery, sure; but that wasn't mysterious. That was slightly terrifying, honestly."

Drumming his fingers on his wife's bed, with a click of his tongue, Demetri nodded. "Then it appears I'll have to be exceptionally careful about what I say around you for the time being, won't I?"

To his surprise, Bella shook her head. "I don't want to interrupt your life anymore than I have, and I certainly don't want you to walk on eggshells or anything."

Taking a long moment of contemplation, Demetri considered her words, and chose his very carefully. "My Darling, you cannot interrupt a life you have been a part of for seventeen years. Let's remember that very important detail, shall we? Whether or not we've been present in each other's lives is irrelevant. It feels relevant because we both know there are a lot of things that would be a lot different if that wasn't the case. But, you have been a part of my life for the last seventeen years, and a driving force behind a great many decisions made in more recent ones. So, you tell me how you're interrupting a life that has a place specifically designed for you."

Expression and voice softening when Isabella lowered her eyes, Demetri moved his hand from the bed and set it over hers on her stomach, drawing her attention back to him. "As for walking on eggshells... I wouldn't suggest getting used to that, because it certainly isn't going to become a common event. I'm a confident man, Dearest, but I'm not used to being the one in the room at a disadvantage, so what you call walking on eggshells is actually my own discomfort with the situation." At Isabella's look of confusion, Demetri smiled. "I know next to nothing about you. I know your name, and I know how old you are; that's it. Now, while I wouldn't suggest believing everything you've seen on TV or read in the paper, the stories over the years are mostly true enough, meaning you know a whole lot more about me than I do about you. You're not the only one worried about doing something or saying something wrong, and you're not the only one that's nervous in this room right now. I want you to be comfortable, My Darling, around me and in general, but we don't know each other, which makes this an extremely uncomfortable situation," leaning closer to her, "for the both of us." Pulling back, Demetri licked his lips again. "That's something that is certainly going to change in the time to come, but for the moment, it's... well, it's fucking uncomfortable."

There was absolutely no disagreement on Isabella's part to the statement. "Agreed."

Nodding to her agreement, Demetri cocked his head. "So, why don't we do this another way. We might be married, but no there is no rule or law saying we have to act like it. There won't be a lot we can do over the next handful of weeks while your ribs heal, but after that, I propose we date."

Genuine shock shot through Bella's blood at what was clearly meant to be a simple solution for something that, to obviously both of them, was anything but a simple issue. While ecstatic to the fact that at no point during their different conversations over the last few hours did it sound as though she would be expected to jump directly into what was considered to be wifely duties, the practice of dating was pretty much a foreign one to her, even though she fully grasped the concept.

It was slow, and left the room slightly spinning, but Bella pushed herself into a sitting position with a little help from Demetri, and her brows pulled down to show her confusion. "Date?"

He didn't really want to find the innocent confusion in his wife's voice amusing, but he couldn't help it. She was twenty years old for fuck's sake, so she had to know what he was talking about. Though he was able to clamp down on the chuckle at her expense, he wasn't so successful with the grin. "Yes... date. Ya know, go out and do shit in public. I take you to dinner. We go to the movies. There's this indoor thrill part in Florence I haven't been to since it opened that I think you would enjoy that has probably the best fried pastries I have ever had in my life." When Isabella's face continued to draw the more he spoke, the more he began to question whether or not she had ever actually gone out with someone before. So, he decided to ask. "You have been on a date before, right?"

Adjusting how she was sitting, Bella, lifted a shoulder as she played with her fingers in her lap. "Not willingly." Cutting her eyes to Demetri, she watched his brow lift in silent question, and she sighed. "It was supposed to be a group thing with friends from school that... wasn't." Scratching the back of her head, she then licked her lips. "Only one showed up, and it was the one that I didn't even want to invite because he just gave me the creeps, and it was the most awkwardly awful experience ever. He kept trying to get closer than I was comfortable with, get all touchy, and was just very pushy." Looking back at Demetri, she wrinkled her nose. "When I went to school on Monday, the 'friends' that never showed up giggled and laughed as they asked me how the 'date' was, and when I said it was horrible and they were horrible people for having a hand in that, they then asked me how it could have been so bad since I went back to his house and slept with him. It was the most mortifying experience I have ever had, and it was made worse when everyone believed him over me when it came to the fact it didn't even happen."

Feeling very much like an asshole for teasing her a moment ago about dating in the past, Demetri reached across his throat and scratched the back of his jaw with his thumb. "What was his name?" The look he received to the question clearly told him he wasn't getting an answer, so instead in pushing her, he filed the story away to have Caius look into.

It would be absolutely nothing to find out where she went to school, and since she hadn't graduated that long ago, by extension, the little fucker that decided to overstep himself. Being as self aware as he was, Demetri was perfectly aware he was going to be doing the exact same thing over something that happened at least two years ago, but it wasn't exactly an unknown fact he didn't care for liars. There was a moment, however brief, that he questioned if there was really any place for him to be as irritated as he was over the fact someone lied about fucking his wife before she was his wife, but it was shockingly easy for him to ignore the question and move straight on to making plans to deal with it. Besides... accidents did happen

There was a spark in the back of Demetri's eyes that made Bella's stomach clinch, but it was gone before she was able to comment on it. She wasn't really sure what it was that pissed him off, but old habits dying hard, she wasn't fully able to look him in the eyes anymore, a part of her afraid that it was something she did, even if she didn't completely understand why he would be mad about the 'date' that wasn't planned when she knew he actually had real girlfriends in the past. Regardless, the words were out before she gave them a second thought. "I'm sorry."

Now... now he was going to kill the little fucker twice. Jolting back from the two words he didn't ever want to hear from her again, Demetri blinked. "For what? You didn't do anything."

Could have fooled her with the anger in his eyes, so that's what she said. "You looked really angry."

"Not really. Annoyed, sure, but not with you." When she still refused to lift her eyes from her lap, Demetri sighed through his nose before lifting a hand and crooking a finger under her chin, gently coaching her to turn her head and licked his lips when she finally looked at him again. When she did, he removed his hand and laced his fingers together around his knee. "People get angry, Darling. It happens, all the time. It's part of what makes us human. I understand you've had more than your fair share of bad things done to you because of anger, but you need to understand that while I have incredible control over my temper, I do lose it from time to time. I do get pissed off on occasion, and I'm not a nice guy when it happens. It is with damn near certainty you will, at some point over the rest of our lives, piss me off. It is also a damn near certainty I will return the favor and spark your temper. It happens, but what will never happen is me taking anything out on you. I don't particularly care for raising my voice to a lady. I think it's ridiculous for anyone with more physical capabilities to intimidate someone smaller than they are, which is exactly what yelling does. If you can't get your point across without terrifying someone else, than there is no point to be made. Will we fight? Guaranteedly, but I'll walk away long before I reach the point I feel I have to yell. And, to be perfectly honest, I will probably laugh at you long before I'll ever want to yell at you."

Confused all over again, though she had been keeping up with what was being told to her thus far, Bella jerked back from the last statement. "You would laugh at me?"

Grinning again Demetri shrugged. "If you got pissed off enough? Yes, I would. I have always found female anger to be incredibly amusing. You're like these... tiny little balls of adorable fury that really, really want to be scary, but are really just... cute." Chuckling at the indigent look on the face of his wife, his grin grew. "What? You are. It's how I get through ninety percent of the times I have a woman screaming in my face for whatever her reason. It's very difficult to get angry when you're trying so hard not to laugh. Now, in my experience, the vast majority of the time, arguments between couples come down to one of three things; a misunderstanding, fatigue, or hunger. If one of those three things isn't a driving force, then it's a real argument, and there are far better ways to sort it out than a screaming match."

Annoyed there was nothing about what he just said she could argue with, the corner of Bella's lips turned down. "Maybe, but it's the fastest."

Lifting a brow, Demetri snorted. "Do you really think so?" When his answer was a sharp nod, Demetri chuckled as he leaned closer to her. "Then game on, My Darling."

That was second time in the same conversation something Bella knew was innocent enough sounded very much like a threat, leaving her coming up shirt for a proper response. There were literally hundreds of things she could have said back. Either snappy or witty, anything really would have been better than entering into a staring contest with Demetri's hypnotizing blue eyes that were dancing in amusement. But, silent she remained, challenge in her own brown orbs over who would be the first to back down when tempers flared. She wanted to say it would be her, verbal sparring matching being something of a specialty of hers, but then again, she'd never gone toe to toe with royalty before, so, she supposed, only time would tell.


End file.
